An exhibition opening at the San Diego Museum of Art is breaking new ground by pairing the works of modernist artists Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore. At its heart, the exhibition is a recreation of both artists’ studios, including hundreds of their original found objects, tools, furnishings and more. “Although they lived an ocean apart, O’Keeffe and Moore pioneered and shared a coherent vision and approach to modernism,” says Anita Feldman, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and Education at the San Diego Museum of Art and curator of O’Keeffe and Moore. “They amassed vast collections of found objects and centered their art on this fundamental aspect.”
Henry Moore (1898-1986), Reclining Figure, 1959-64. Elmwood. The Henry Moore Foundation; Gift of Irina Moore, 1977, LH 452. Photo: Jonty Wilde.
The selection of artwork in the show features over 125 paintings, pastels, drawings, graphics and sculptures in a wide range of mediums, from plaster and bronze to travertine, lead, elmwood, lignum vitae and even stalactite.
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Mule’s Skull with Pink Poinsettias, 1936. Oil on canvas. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Gift of The Burnett Foundation, 1997.6.14. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Guiding the theme of this exhibition are the natural forms that O’Keeffe and Moore utilized within their artwork, both two- and three-dimensional. The museum also collaborated with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Henry Moore Foundation, resulting in loans of many important works of art, as well as the contents of the artist’s studios. “Nearly 30 other museums and collectors have lent key works in exhibition sections devoted to Bones; Stones; Flowers, Seashells, Internal/External Forms; and Landscapes of Form. Once the themes were pinned down, major works were selected based on their sources of inspiration,” Feldman adds.
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Pedernal, 1941. Oil on canvas. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Gift of the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 2006.5.172. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
“Visitors can experience the working practices of the two artists to see how natural forms such as animal skulls and bones, coiled seashells, gnarled driftwood and interlocking and layered stones inspired the majority of their most iconic creations,” she continues.
Henry Moore (1898-1986), Bird Basket, 1939. Lignum vitae and string. The Henry Moore Foundation; Received 2002, LH 205. Photo: Darren Chung.
O’Keeffe and Moore will be on view at SDMA from May 13 to August 27. It will then move on to the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada.
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